The Sunshine Foundation of Canada’s activities are governed by a volunteer-based, national Board of Directors comprised of highly regarded representatives from health care, finance and community/public service, who meet regularly to establish our strategic direction and monitor financial matters.
Read about Sunshine's Accountability
Meet our National Board of Directors:
Catherine Parsons Dhamija, MBA
Board Chair & Chair of Executive Committee
Catherine Parsons Dhamija is a Partner with the Managerial Design™ service line in Deloitte Canada’s Human Capital practice. She is primarily focused on accelerating team leader and team performance while enabling organizational effectiveness. Catherine employs a trademarked organizational alignment and change management methodology proven to improve performance through 100 percent alignment on the strategic vision and objectives of leaders and their teams.
Over 20 years, Catherine has achieved cultural fluency in the global workplace, working with 1000s of clients across markets, as well as across industries. She is the Master Facilitator. From the Board level to the C-Suite and through to the front lines, she has mastered the ability to penetrate the “why not” to solve the “how can we”. Her infectious energy and stellar reputation is often cited by clients as the source of success for their transformations.
Catherine holds an MBA with distinction in Strategy and International Business from the Schulich School of Business at York University, and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is currently a LLM Candidate at Osgoode Law School where she is completing her second Masters in Dispute Resolution. She is a committed volunteer who has served on a number of non-profit boards, most recently she is serving The Sunshine Foundation of Canada. She enjoys spending her spare time hiking and biking with her husband and three children.
Brian Henderson, MBA, PFP
Vice Chair
Brian is the Regional Vice-President for RBC Insurance for Western Canada residing in Vancouver. Over a 30+ year career at RBC Brian has led large teams in Retail Banking, Financial Planning, Insurance and Head Office in Alberta, Ontario, and British Columbia. In addition, Brian has been active in the communities he has lived, participating on several boards and committees, including Junior Achievement, Chambers of Commerce, and was Chair of the Board of Governors of Lambton College in 2010. Brian also volunteered for the Ivey MBA program as Executive in Residence for the Ivey Consulting Project from 2011-2017.
Brian graduated from the University of Calgary with a BA in 1992 and has an MBA from Dalhousie University. He also holds a Financial Planning designation and is certified in Change Management.
Brian recently moved to Vancouver with his wife Jill and has two daughters in University at Wilfrid Laurier and UBC. In their spare time as a family, they love all things travel, golf, and basketball.
Michele Mannering, LLB LLM
Secretary & Chair of Corporate Governance Committee
Having completed a 30 year law career with Harrison Pensa LLP, and serving as a Chair of their Business Law Group, Michele is currently an Adjunct Professor at Western’s Law School where she teaches a capstone course in Business Law.
Michele is an avid traveller and has completed a variety of treks including a Spanish Camino, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and visiting a Buddhist monastery on Mt. Kurama, Japan.
Michele has 4 children and a new grandchild, of whom she has about a trillion pictures available to share at any time. She has been married to Andy since 1984 and can produce a wallet size photo of him.
Michele has been known to attempt golf and has several “most honest golfer” awards to her name. She also enjoys a variety of other sporting activities at which she fairs modestly better.
Most importantly, Michele is a big fan of Sunshine and the families we serve. She has supported Sunshine as a volunteer, and looks forward to adding Board work to her engagement with Sunshine.
Dr. Michelle McNeill
Director & Chair of Medical Advisory Team
Dr. McNeill is a General Academic Pediatrician and Developmental Pediatrician. She has actively and passionately supported Sunshine in various capacities over the past 20 years, including most memorably volunteering on four Sunshine DreamLifts in the London area.
Dr. McNeill also serves Sunshine as a referral partner within the London healthcare community at Children’s Hospital of London and as an integral home office resource providing training to Sunshine staff on conditions that our Sunshine Dreamers live with. As a wife, mother of four, and busy professional, Dr. McNeill certainly has a full plate but always has time to support the Sunshine team.
Jim Cassidy, CA
Past Chair
Jim is currently the Office Managing Partner and Audit Partner-in-Charge for KPMG in London, ON. He has been with KPMG for 35 years providing audit, review and accounting advisory services to companies in a number of industries including healthcare, transportation, technology, industrial manufacturing & distribution and financial services. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is an Ontario CPA.
Jim is an active member of the community through his extensive involvement with various charities, athletic groups, and local hospitals. Most recently, Jim served 4 years as the Chair & Past Chair of London Health Sciences Foundation, and previously served numerous years as a board and finance committee member. He has also served on a variety of charity and athletic boards and advisory councils. Jim has been a leader of several sports teams and currently coaches a Midget Devilette hockey team.
Lisa Gibson, BA
Director & Co-Chair of Marketing Committee
As Head of Communications at Microsoft Canada, Lisa leads a team of professionals focused on building and protecting the company’s reputation, reinforcing Microsoft as the leader in trust and innovation and driving employee engagement across the country.
With more than 25 years of experience, Lisa has led communications at a number of high-profile retail and technology brands including Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart and Target. Over the course of her career, she has built a reputation for solving complex business problems through strategic communications and delivering best-in-class public relations and executive communication programs. Passionate about the role communications plays in driving digital transformation, Lisa meets regularly with customers to share best practices and insights.
Lisa has a degree in Criminology/Psychology from the University of Toronto and a certificate in Public Relations from Ryerson University. She is passionate about mentorship and volunteers her time to coach new and budding PR talent. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, travelling, and listening to podcasts.
Marco Pasqua
Director
Marco Pasqua is an entrepreneur, Accessibility Consultant and Inspirational Speaker. He is a Sunshine Alumni and has been supporting and volunteering with the organization for over 25 years. Advocating for universal design and inclusion is among his passions; In the past, he’s worked as a Community Manager with the Rick Hansen Foundation and with the City of Surrey to implement accessibility standards and documentation that have been adopted citywide. Most recently, he's brought his energy and enthusiasm as an Accessibility and Inclusion Consultant supporting the Presidents Group - a network of change-driven BC business leaders who are champions for more accessible, inclusive workplaces.
It's through these experiences, personally and professionally, that he is helping to pave the way for all Canadians to have universal access to the programs, services and places that they live, work and play.
Dan Pompilii, CPA, CA, HBA
Treasurer & Chair of Finance Committee
For the past 3 years, Dan has been CFO and Vice President of Operations for Windley Ely Inc. He did his articling with PWC before leaving for the industry. Dan has held multiple positions and titles over his 20 years in the industry, working with consumer-based businesses. His career has been focused on strategy development, Human Resources, planning and analysis, internal controls, financial reporting, as well as IT-related initiatives. Dan was the lead on multiple mergers and management buyouts during his career. Prior to moving into the private sector Dan did the majority of his public accounting tenure with PWC focusing on Manufacturing and the not for profit sector.
Dan holds an Honors Bachelor degree from the University of Windsor, a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western and is also licensed as both a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Licensed Public Accountant.
Dan is active in his community and is a leader with many sports organizations as he spends his time with his children (Ava and Roman) and their passion for organized activities. In his spare time, he loves to golf and travel with his wife Silvia and their two children.
Subtej Nijjar
Director & Co-Chair of Marketing Committee
With 20+ years in the business, Subtej (Sub) has an unparalleled track record as one of Canada’s leading strategic minds, helping household brands such as Domino’s, IKEA, Best Buy, Molson Coors, Unilever, and American Express innovate and strengthen their business positioning and value.
A true innovator, Sub is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Cossette, one of Canada's leading integrated communication agencies. Sub's experience spans both agency and client side having served as CMO at Shiftsmart where he contributed to building the company’s brand and communications B2B and B2C strategy. Working in partnership with the company’s newly formed leadership team, he also helped Shiftsmart grow its customer base to two million users. Prior to Shiftsmart, Sub was key in launching Coinberry as the company’s first-ever CMO, and he served as President of Mosaic North America, driving multiple lines of business for some of the top Fortune 500 companies in North America.
In 2012, Sub founded the integrated creative agency Union, leading the agency through eight years of significant growth. Before founding Union, he led the Canadian operations of CP+B, first in the dual role of EVP, Group Director Cultural and Business Insights, and later as agency President.
Sub has been celebrated as an industry visionary from the very beginning of his career. In 2005, he was recognized as one of Marketing Magazine’s “Ones to Watch,” an award that celebrates Canada’s brightest minds under the age of 30. Since then, he has used his experience and business insight to help his agencies win over 175 creative awards and honours, including multiple Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, and a Grand Effie. He has also served as a juror for multiple award shows, including the Effie Awards, the Marketing Awards and the Media Innovation Awards.
Dr. Gillian Mandich, PhD
Director
Gillian Mandich is an award-winning, internationally recognized happiness researcher, speaker, educator, and author. With a PhD from Western University in Health Science, Gillian’s primary areas of research are happiness and health. She is the founder of The International Happiness Institute of Health Science Research; Research Associate at The World Database of Happiness, based out of Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands; co-lead investigator of The Canadian Happiness At Work Study; and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
As a happiness researcher, Gillian knows that there is no secret to happiness, but there is a science to it. In recent years, scientists have reached the overwhelming conclusion that it is possible to change our happiness levels, and Gillian’s work seeks to discover how to do that in a meaningful way.
As a prominent media personality, Gillian has appeared on The Social, Marilyn Denis, Breakfast Television, The Morning Show, Global, ABC News Philadelphia, WWL New Orleans, and CBS Pittsburgh. She is a top-rated keynote speaker and has given two TEDx talks.
